(1) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a method and an apparatus for balancing and more particularly to a method and to an apparatus for balancing a rotating machine tool and/or rotating/moving machine tool assembly.
(2) Background of the Invention
Machine tool assemblies are used to create and/or to form various parts, products, and other types of entities and/or apparatuses. Particularly, these apparatuses include tools which are usually and removably placed, by means of a tool holder, upon a rotating or moving spindle and which are adapted to engage a workpiece or other apparatus and to engagingly form the workpiece into a desired shape and size. While these machine tool assemblies adequately create the desired parts, products, and/or other entities they are prone to imbalance failure and/or imbalance error. Hence, the precision and reliability of these relatively high-speed machine tool assemblies is limited by the imbalance which exists and/or arises as the assembly is used (e.g. as the tool is engaging rotated and/or moved against the workpiece). Similar types of unbalance or imbalance difficulties arise in the rotation and the utilization of relatively high-speed turbomachinery which is used in a variety of manufacturing and electrical power generation facilities and which causes the loss of significant revenues if “shut down” and/or disabled for even a relatively brief period of time.
Some balancing devices have been created and utilized in order to overcome these imbalance difficulties. While somewhat effective, these prior balancing devices and methodologies suffered from various drawbacks. For example and without limitation, many of these prior balancers required that the tool assembly and/or rotating machinery be stopped or “interrupted” before a balance was achieved. This “interruption” or “off line” balance was and remains relatively costly and highly inefficient. Some of the other prior balancing devices and methodologies experienced and/or caused a relatively high, although oftentimes temporary, increase in the overall vibration or imbalance level as the balance “correction” was implemented. This transitory high vibration level was usually caused by the movement of the balancing portion of the assembly to a new balancing position and oftentimes caused the tooling assembly to be imprecise and to fail even before overall balance was achieved. The very act of balancing the assembly causes the assembly to fail or perform in an undesirable manner. Further, many of these prior balancers did not and do not adjust the imbalancing “thresholds” (e.g. the vibration values at which balancing was and/or is to begin and end) during the “working life” and for various speeds of the machine. Hence, as the machine (tooling assembly) ages and as the machine and/or tooling assembly employs a variety of speeds its needs for balancing changes. Unfortunately, these new and different balancing needs were not and are not properly reflected by these prior deployed balancer assemblies.
There is therefore a need for a method and a balancing apparatus to allow for the relatively efficient balancing of a machine tool assembly, a relatively high-speed turbomachine assembly, or virtually any other rotating and/or moving machine and/or apparatus and which substantially prevents temporary vibration level increases during balancing and which allows balancing thresholds to be dynamically modified over the “working life” of the machine. Applicant's invention addresses these needs and these aforedescribed drawbacks of these prior art balancing devices and methodologies in a new and novel fashion. Importantly, Applicant's invention is not limited to the balancing of a machine tool assembly. Rather, Applicant's invention is directed to the balance of any moving and/or rotating member.